NCAA WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT: Princeton relishing role as underdog against FSU

The Princeton University women’s basketball team spent the majority of its season as the hunted in the Ivy League, but as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Tigers fancy themselves as underdogs when they face No. 8 seed Florida State Sunday evening (5:10 p.m., ESPN2) in a first-round game in Waco, Texas.

Banghart likes it that way.“We’ve had that target on our back all year long and they handle it so well, but it gets exhausting,” said the Tigers’ sixth-year coach, who guided them to a 13-1 Ivy season with the only setback coming by three points at Harvard on March 1.

Princeton (22-6) is making its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, but is yet to win a game, going one and done in its previous three chances.

That elusive victory still hangs over Banghart’s head. Her team’s had to answer questions about it all season.

“Now we have an opportunity,” Banghart said. “Florida State doesn’t take us lightly. These guys can’t sneak up on anybody anymore because of our success. But that NCAA tournament win is so elusive that we’re going in to hunt.”

The Seminoles (22-9) won’t be easy to upset. They have four players averaging at least 13 points per game, led by senior guard Leonor Rodriguez (15.1) while Alexa Deluzio (14.2), Chelsea Davis (13.2) and Natasha Howard (13) are also legitimate scoring threats.

Banghart expects FSU to offer something different defensively, too. The ’Noles play zone, mixing up 2-3, 1-3-1 and zone-pressure schemes, looks the Tigers don’t see often in the Ivy League.

“In a 40-minute game, you don’t have very long to adjust,” Banghart said. “We’re going to have to adjust quickly because it is different from what we’ve seen.”

“If they play zone, and our shot doesn’t fall at first, we cant’ get down on that,” said two-time Ivy League Player of the Year Niveen Rasheed, who’s gong to be the focal point of the FSU defense. “We have to look for our transition looks and try to get some easy buckets on them. If we don’t score a lot in the first 10 minutes, we don’t need to stress. Things will happen, shot will start to fall.”

Princeton tired to prepare itself for this moment by taking on a challenging non-conference schedule. The Tigers played tournament qualifiers St. Joseph’s, Marist, UCLA, Delaware, Villanova, DePaul and Navy.

Even so, simulating the speed and strength of the ACC semifinalists in practice is difficult.

“With the adrenaline and the hype of the game, I think we’ll come out strong and ready to go,” said sophomore guard Blake Dietrick. “I think we are motivated enough at this point after losing three times. We’re ready to go.”

Dietrick is averaging 7.9 points per game mostly coming off the bench. She’s the Tigers’ top 3-point threat, attempting a team-high 136 shots from beyond the arc and connecting at a 36 percent rate. If FSU tries to take away Rasheed (16.9 points, 9 rebounds) like Banghart expects, other players are going to have to make open shots.

Kristen Helmstetter (9 ppg) and Meg Bowen (8.9) have both proven throughout the year they are capable second or third scores and Lauren Polansky is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the Ivy.

“We just have a chip on our shoulder from being in the tournament so much and not having that win yet,” Dietrick said.

If the Tigers do get past the Seminoles, they’ll have a date with overall top seed Baylor (32-1).

Banghart insists the focus is only on one thing.

“I think what’s great about it is Baylor’s such a great opponent that you don’t have to worry about it,” she said. “At that point, let’s just enjoy the atmosphere. We’re going to put all our focus into this game (against FSU).”

On Sunday, it’s time to go hunting.

“We’ve been hunted all year long,” Banghart said, “and we get to do some hunting of our own now.”